


Should the Gates of Heaven Be Closed?

by ceirdwenfc



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 8.21, Episode: s08e21 The Great Escapist, Metatron - Freeform, Other, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-13
Updated: 2013-06-13
Packaged: 2017-12-14 21:24:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/841555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceirdwenfc/pseuds/ceirdwenfc





	Should the Gates of Heaven Be Closed?

_“It’s your choice…the choices your kind makes. But you’re gonna have to weigh that choice, ask yourself “what it’s going to take to do this” and “what will the world be like after it’s done?”_

-Metatron in 8.21, The Great Escapist

 

This was what Metatron said to Dean when they were talking about the third trial. With Sam, he seemed slightly in awe, noting the resonating, that Sam had come far in the trials to be at that place. He was wide-eyed and grinning watching his words come to life.

However, with Dean in the kitchen, after rescuing Kevin he was much more serious. He was much more sedate, more than he’d been since they’d been there. Since the moment they walked in, other than holding the gun on them at first, he was full of wonder, full of respect and esteem for the humans in his midst, eager to tell them about their own stories. He was excited.

Until reality came home, and he began to talk about G-d and the other angels, especially the archangels. Then he became sad, downhearted, discouraged with the idea that they were asking him to go back, something he very much did not want to do. It wasn’t that he wanted to help as much as he wanted to stay away from Heaven and its Hosts.

In the kitchen, with the Prophet rescued, the third trial translated, confirmed just after (as if they really needed that with Kevin’s expertise), their sights set on the goal, the final test before the gates would be closed, pretending that it would be as easy a task as saying it rather than even more difficult as the three trials put together, but instead of hope and optimism, Dean responds with a shrug. _I guess we’ll close the door to Hell_. It’s what we’ve been working towards, really since he was four years old.

Then Metatron throws the real spanner into the works.

_It’s your choice_.

Choice.

Choosing.

To close or to leave open.

Free Will.

For a moment, Dean’s face lights up that yes, maybe he does have a choice, but does he? _We will close the door to Hell_ , and his mind adds, and then everything will be alright. Everything will have been worth it.

But nothing is that simple, and a millennia of knowledge and knowing, Metatron knows what to ask. He is the ultimate neutral party. You can close the gates of Hell; or not. He doesn’t care, but he is also not arbitrary. He asks the questions that perhaps Dean is already asking himself.

_What is it going to take to do this?_

This pointed question goes to the season finale title: Sacrifice. What is he willing to sacrifice? While the character of Dean doesn’t know the episode title, he knows all about the things he’s sacrificed along the way these last thirty years. What more can he sacrifice? Every morning he watches Sammy getting worse, more feverish, sunken eyes, losing weight, unsteady on his feet, and how much more will he have to sacrifice? Despite Sam thinking the trials are purifying him (and they may be), is Dean willing to lose Sam completely?

And the second question: _What will the world be like when it’s done?_

It sounds like a wonderful thing. Close the door to Hell, trap the demons inside, let them fight among themselves in a place that hurts no one. Except we all know that’s not how it works. Without the checks and balances of the demons, the threat of evil, we humans are left to our own devices, and through our free will, we know that sometimes we make poor choices. Sometimes, we do bad things, even without a demon on our shoulder.

And who would watch over us? One would think that we wouldn’t need anyone to without the threat of demons, but the demons didn’t create the disharmony in Heaven between the Archangels. When Lucifer fell, or was cast down, a full-on war began, with both sides wanting to, wishing to, _needing_ to be right, to gain their Father’s favor.

Michael and Lucifer were willing to take out half the planet for their little power struggle. They were going to let the Apocalypse take place regardless of how many humans it affected; how many died.

Gabriel described the Apocalypse as a ‘family dinner’. Anna _left_ to become human; she couldn’t take it anymore.

Would so much change with the gates closed?

What exactly did Naomi say? Killing the first born of Egypt was a PR stunt. She was willing to kill someone (Dean) to keep _one_ of the Angels in line. In the big picture, what is so important about Castiel? How many times did Naomi have to wipe Castiel’s mind? What things had been done by heaven that was so horrible that he needed to be wiped clean over and over again? And the look on Ion’s face as he recalled some of the things that he could never forget despite very much wanting to.

When trying to kill Dean didn’t work, she tried to manipulate him at the houseboat. Who knows what she’s done to Bobby? And no, I don’t think he’s safe up there for a minute. Look at how many she slaughtered at that Bigerson’s. The angrier she gets, the more vicious she gets.

Not to mention that judging by Naomi and some of the other angels in upper management, they don’t seem a whole lot different than Crowley and his ilk. Although even comparing her to Crowley, I still think she’s worse, and if you watch their interactions, she loses her temper much more readily, she’s willing to sacrifice her own while Crowley doesn’t so much sacrifice as outright kill. He is much calmer, much more business-like. His way is a cost-effective model; hers is more emotional despite her seeming emotionless.

I’m not sure I’d want her in charge, and with G-d gone, it looks like she’s the only one stepping up to keep the seat warm.

I am also a firm believer in symmetry. If the gates of hell are closed forever, shouldn’t the gates of heaven be closed as well? That’s another question that needs to be addressed by Dean, and I’m sure that Metatron will be thinking it as well. He wrote the four tablets, like the Four Horsemen and their rings, maybe the tablets need to be used together to actually generate change.

So, what will it take to close the doors to Hell, and what will the world look like when it’s closed? Will it be a place that we will want to continue living in or will we have simply traded one Devil for another?


End file.
